Consumer Reports Says Toyota Crisis Taking Its Toll on Brand
Loyalty

YONKERS, N.Y., Feb. 26, 2010; The intense
publicity surrounding Toyota's recent recalls seems to be having a
pronounced effect on the company's image among its current customers.
That's the news from a recent follow-up to the Consumer Reports 2010 Car
Brand Perception Survey. Among consumers who drive a Toyota regularly, 60
percent said they would most likely purchase a Toyota the next time they
are in the market for a new car. That's down 10 percentage points from the
December 2009 survey. As a result, Toyota slipped behind Honda, while
loyalty for Chevrolet and Ford changed little among owners.

The full report is available on
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2010/02/new-consumer-reports-car-brand-p
erceptions-survey-toyota-brand-loyalty-down.html

To provide a snapshot of how public perceptions of Toyota are shifting
in light of its cascading safety recalls, the Consumer Reports National
Research Center repeated part of the 2010 Car Brand Perception Survey. For
this follow-up, a random, nationwide telephone survey was conducted over
February 4-8 of 1,832 adults who said that their household owns a
vehicle.

Despite the attention Toyota has received due to safety concerns, the
overall impact on the brand integrity in the eyes of the consumer was less
than one may have anticipated, though admittedly this is a developing
situation. Among the top brands, purchase intent among all consumers
changed by a notable amount between the two surveys for only one brand;
Toyota registered a decline of nearly 4 percentage points. The change was
similar between genders, but purchase intent declined more among
respondents aged 18 to 44 years old than those aged 45 and over.

Even with this modest decline, Toyota purchase intent among all
respondents remains greater than all brands except Ford (17 percent) and
Chevrolet (14 percent).

While brand loyalty among current owners has declined, it remains
greater than other popular makes, including Chevrolet (52 percent), Ford
(51 percent), and Dodge (28 percent). Notably, Dodge owners are less likely
to purchase another vehicle from that brand than in December, at 28 percent
versus 32 percent.

The next time you are in the market for a new car, what brand are you
most likely to purchase?

Toyota entered its current crisis in a position of strength. It has led
past Brand Perception Surveys by a significant margin, and in the latest
full survey in December, at 196 points, it held a significant score
advantage with over its closest competitor, Ford, at 141 points. The scores
reflect consumers' total perception level of a brand across seven
categories: Safety, quality, value, performance, design/style,
technology/innovation, and environmentally friendly/green.

In ranking those factors, respondents considered Safety to be the most
important, up slightly from the previous year. Quality ranked second. These
attributes have historically been associated with Toyota, exposing
vulnerability as these traits are drawn into question as the automaker
manages its crisis.

We plan to conduct our annual Brand Perception Survey late this year,
again taking the pulse of America.